Francis Aloysius O'Leary MBE (18 June 1931 – 4 October 2000) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and missionary who founded the St Joseph's Hospice Association, an international network of hospices known as Jospice. O'Leary was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in 1996.

Life

Francis Aloysius O'Leary was born 18 June 1931 in

Crosby Crosby may refer to: Places Canada *Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario *Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario England *Crosby, Cumbria *Crosby, Lincolnshire *Crosby, Merseyside **Crosby (UK P ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the youngest of three children. At the age of 11, O'Leary entered the seminary of Mill Hill Fathers at Freshfield. He later attended seminaries at

Burn Hall, County Durham Burn Hall is a country house in County Durham. It is a Grade II* listed building. History Around 1812, Bryan John Salvin of Croxdale purchased a manor house, dating back to the 13th century, called New Burnhall. Ignatius Bonomi redesigned it fro ...

, and St Joseph's College in

Roosendaal Roosendaal () is both a city and a municipality in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Towns/villages of the municipality * Roosendaal (population: 66,760) * Wouw (4,920) * Heerle (1,900) * Nispen (1,440) * Wouwse ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. O'Leary was ordained on 8 July 1956. After earning a post-graduate degree from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1960, he was posted to Pakistan. O'Leary was assigned as a missionary in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. In 1962, while attending to a sick woman in an empty mud hut, O'Leary realized the need for a hospice care facility. In 1964, he opened the first hospice in Rawalpindi. After receiving advice from

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

, O'Leary obtained loans and donations to establish more facilities. O'Leary established several hospices in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Guatemala. He also founded three facilities in England. In 1973, O'Leary was the subject of the British television program '' This Is Your Life'' when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. He was awarded the 1974 Daniel Carrion Medal for his medical work in Peru. In 1996, O'Leary was awarded an MBE membership. O'Leary died on 4 October 2000, at the age of 69. The leader of England's Roman Catholics, Archbishop

Vincent Nichols Vincent Gerard Nichols (born 8 November 1945) is an English Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Westminster since 2009. He was the Archbishop of Birmingham from 2000 to 2009 and is president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference ...

was a cousin of Father O'Leary, and is current president of the Jospice organisation.

References

External links

Jospice
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Francis 1931 births 2000 deaths People from Crosby, Merseyside 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests Members of the Order of the British Empire English people of Irish descent Clergy from Liverpool British expatriates in Pakistan